Philadelphia Suburban Development Corporation (PSDC) wants to put some open space to use.
In a 3-1 vote, Towamencin Township Supervisors approved a conditional use request from the firm after a public hearing Wednesday night. The conditional use approval amends the zoning code to establish a residential sector within the Entertainment Lifestyle Overlay zoning district, allowing PSDC to develop an elderly housing and age-restricted independent living community.
PSDC owns every parcel in the district.
In 2015, PSDC presented the new overlay district to supervisors, who subsequently approved it. A year later, it was amended to include various conditional uses.
PSDC intends to develop the residences on 18.89 acres along Forty Foot Road between SKF, at Tomlinson Road, and the Towamencin Shopping Village parcel at Allentown Road, which includes a vacant shopping strip—save for the still-operating The Store Outfitters—and buildings housing Wells Fargo Bank, Wendy’s, Boston Market and an independent Verizon retailer.
It will also build two separate retail locations fronting Forty Foot Road.
“It has been difficult to find tenants within the shopping center,” said John Anderson, of Cornerstone Consulting Engineers, the firm representing PSDC on the project. “Incorporation of residential in an office and retail environment leads to continued success over those existing developments.“
The residential buildings, according to Anderson, would have a maximum height of 45.5 feet, which is nearly the same height as the SKF building. The retail buildings would have a maximum height of 25 feet.
The district allows for a maximum building height of 40 feet, which may be increased to 65 feet or more by supervisors’ majority approval. If buildings are over 40 feet, each extra foot in height must be added as a corresponding foot in width or depth to the yard requirement.
The new setback from Forty Foot Road for retail is 75 feet, and the residential sector is now set back 269 feet, Anderson said.
The Entertainment Lifestyle Overlay District, created in 2016, is a total of 52 acres, and comprises Limited Industrial, Shopping Center and Commercial zones, according to the township code. It is bounded by Forty Foot, Tomlinson and Allentown roads.
“This is a zoning hearing. There hasn’t been any land development application submitted yet for this project. When that happens, it will go to the township consultants for review and then to the planning commission for review, and then to the board for review,” supervisors Chairman Charles Wilson said. “There was discussion on this at previous meetings and there were changes made to what was originally proposed.”
Those changes include a reduction in the building height and increased setbacks from Forty Foot Road, Wilson said.
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